Exclusive: Chelsea still not in contract talks with important player, says expert

Chelsea and Conor Gallagher are still not in talks over a new contract, according to transfer news expert Fabrizio Romano.

Speaking exclusively to CaughtOffside for his latest Daily Briefing column, Romano discussed the latest Gallagher stories as the England international has been linked with Aston Villa ahead of this summer.

Gallagher has been a key player for Mauricio Pochettino’s side this season, but he’s approaching the final year of his contract, so the club might decide it’s now a good time to cash in on the player while his stock is high and there’s an opportunity to make pure profit from the sale of a homegrown academy product.

After so much spending in the transfer market in recent times, Chelsea surely need to keep an eye on Financial Fair Play, meaning selling someone like Gallagher could end up being really important to help them balance the books.

Gallagher transfer: Plenty of interest as new Chelsea deal not being discussed

Although Romano played down the links with Aston Villa, he said there is a lot of interest in Gallagher, with Tottenham still admirers of the former Crystal Palace loanee.

“There have been fresh rumours about Conor Gallagher’s future, with some talk that he could be used in a swap deal with Aston Villa for Jhon Duran,” Romano said.

“My latest understanding is that there’s still no conversation between Chelsea and Gallagher over a new deal, so it’s up to the club to decide what they want to do. There’s interest from several clubs but I’m not hearing about anything being close or concrete now, the usual interest from many clubs, including Tottenham, is there, but there’s nothing new in terms of negotiations.”

Many Chelsea fans will surely be hoping something can be worked out for Gallagher to stay, but one imagines the Blues would’ve sorted this by now if they’d had any real intention of doing so.